Which unit performs best for you?

[Auere]

Everyone seems to have different opinions on dark elves. What is broken - what is weak. But sometimes the units that look the best/worst on paper actually show to be something quite else on the battlefield.


Which Dark Elf unit wins the critical combat that decides the game? Or which unit seems to always grab four times its worth of victory points? Which unit gives you the stratigal advantage that ensures victory? Or which unit always seem to put out a sterling performance when it is needed the most?


- Looking at the whole of your battles as a Dark Elf general, which unit is really your most powerful Dark Elf unit?


My vote is harpies. My 2x5 harpies contribution to the overall battleplan is astonishing. They always seem to earn more than three times their worth in victory points and their tactical uses are unlimited. In my last game 5 harpies earned more than 700 vp.


So you are up: Where does your vote go?

[Borog]

My dark riders once destroyed 20 miners in turn 6,
and 4 blood knights in the last turn of another game.

I've charged a unit of pistoliers with a unit of GW shades and my shades all fluffed their attacks and died. In the same battle my dark riders was charged by the same unit and slaughtered them.

They never disappoint me, I never leave home without two units of five!

[Masked jackal]

Cold One Knights, they've let me down sometimes but when they do pull it off, they do so in spades. Cauldron blessing them makes them even better!

[Minsc]

Tie between Executioners and Cold One Knights.

Unless the CoK's go stupid, both units have a tendency to do exactly what I want them to do when I want them to do it.
Especially with +1A from a CoB.

[Demetrius]

Executioners for me.

[Red...]

It's a toss up between my Black Guard anchor/anvil (fielded as 7/7 with ring of hotek and standard of HG) or my dark rider strike force (Fielded as 5/4 and led by a BSB with hydra banner). But I think I'll go with the Dark Riders because they are game winners

[Fleshcollector]

Executioners are reliable, hard hitting and sweet looking and consistently impact the game in a big way. To me it is just hilarious to have demons back peddle in the face of an Executioner advance and any unit that will do that is Ace.

[Auere]

Funny that more people choose executioners than black guard :-)

[Red...]

Funny that more people choose executioners than black guard :-)

i think its more likely that people who prefer executioners are more vocal about it than people who take black guard.

That makes sense: executioners are usually a very stylistic choice (ie people who take them will often use them in a particular style and this will guide their game playing), whereas Black Guard are a staple (ie people will use them to support their general tactics and won't mold their strategy based on using them).

That's in part because Black Guard are mostly self sufficient (immune to psych, stubborn, 2 attacks each, 50 point banner option, leadership 9, magic item option and initiative 6) whereas Executioners often depend (or at least benefit from) combo set ups (including death hag BSB with standard of HG to allow standard of HG, Cauldon of Blood to give stubborn, and even nearby master to carry ring of hotek).

Just from reading through the armies people post up, it does seem that BG are more commonly used (could be wrong on that though!)

[Maldor]

It depends a lot on the enemy. Against undead Witch Elves are vicious, but against Bretonnians Executioners are the way to go.

[Rabidnid]

Witches, my gaming group is now terrified of them.

[Tethlis]

Rending Star Assassin with half a dozen Shades. They consistently delivery, do what's required of them, and will often fight their way out of situations where I thought they were being sacrificed.

I know the Assassin's a character, but since this is a pretty common configuration and the Assassin's something of a unit upgrade, it seemed relevant enough to post.

[Minsc]

The reason I didn't put Black Guard, is because they rarely win the games for me in the same manner as a wellplaced Exe/CoK charge.

My Black Guard either get shot to pieces, avoided like they where chosen with Banner of Rage, or simply break. Ld9 stubborn with reroll - it doesn't matter.
That's the price you pay for beeing a Anvil though - The Hammers steal all the glory, and no one remembers that the hammer would've never killed that Greater Daemon if it weren't for the Anvil holding their positions.

[Tethlis]

Agreed, the same can be said for the Core fodder which helps define the Dark Elf army. Even if you pull off a tremendous charge that yields epic VP, it's important to keep in mind that Dark Riders and/or Harpies probably helped to set that charge up in the first place.

[The warchief]

Majority of my units perform well and do exactly what I expect of them. However 2 units more often than not, go above and beyond expectations:

Firstly is a unit of 10 Corsairs with Handbows. This is in some ways a sacrificial unit, used to screen my Black Guard. However, run it out fast in front of an enemy unit, with a Cauldron blessing and include an assassin and it will catch a lot of people off guard. 9 times out of 10 it will guarantee my BG get to combat relatively unscathed. Priceless. They also took the final wound off a Blood Thirster last week...

Secondly I would like to nominate Spearmen. A unit often over looked by opponents, or viewed as the weaker link in my battle line, they get targeted often and might not win every combat but usually hold up for a few rounds to allow me to get them support. I run 20 (or 25) with Warbanner and if the assassin is not in the corsairs this is where he'll be. Again a Cauldron blessing can work worders, I like to fight in 2 ranks with spears and give KB. They held a unit of Flesh Hounds for 4 rounds and beat them in the last game out...

However you may note that both units work best in conjunction with support, whether that be an Assassin, a Cauldron, a BSB nearby or readily available flank support. Its taken me lots of practice to design and use my army as a cohesive force...

[No one]

my best performing unit has to be my 10 witcheleves with banner of murder and a hag with the rune of khaine, these girls have killed everything from saurus blocks to chaos knights, they outperformed even my BG when I used them in the same list for a while.

[Ming]

I voted CoK because I never failed a critical stupidity test, and their strenght on the charge is invaluable.

But my second best would have been execs.
I favor them over BG; and I quote Red... post entirely!

[Kaptain von]

Tie between the Witches and the Executioners. The Witches will usually chew up a couple of enemy units before getting whittled down and wiped, and the Executioners + Assassin have duffed up more or less everything that's dared to stand in front of them. One unit follows up the other for the proverbial win.

[Ihdarklord]

Personally, I voted Black Guards because I like them most .


But the real strength of a Druchii army is not 1 über unit, but a combination of everything.
To control every phase is for Druchii the way to win!

Similar with Wood Elfs, you can't win a game with solely shooting, or solely dryads, treekin/treemen, you need a bit of everything to outclass your opponent.

[Autarii]

Cold One Knights, 5 with the standard of slaughter and on occasion the ring of hotek.

They don't always survive but they hit the hardest and usually make their points back, plus with the new models they look brilliant.